Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 8010 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 109

A Good Boer War C.B. Group of Eight to Major-General Sir H.A. Raitt [K.C.I.E.], South Staffordshire Regiment, A Veteran of the South Africa 1877-79 Conflict; Who Commanded the 1st Battalion of His Regiment During the Boer War, 1900; and was G.O.C. Burma Division 1915-18, Successfully Suppressing the Kachin Rising in 1915 The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Military Division, Companion´s (C.B.) breast Badge, silver-gilt and enamels, lacking connecting ring, in R.&S. Garrard & Co. case of issue; South Africa 1877-79, one clasp, 1878-9 (Lieut. H.A. Raitt. 80th Foot.); Queen´s South Africa 1899-1902, three clasps, Cape Colony, Wittebergen, Transvaal (Lt. Colonel. H.A. Raitt, C.B., S. Staff. R.), top lugs removed; King´s South Africa 1901-02, two clasps (Lt. Col. H.A. Raitt. C.B., S. Staff. Rgt.); 1914-15 Star (Maj. Gen. H.A. Raitt. C.B.); British War and Victory Medals (Maj. Gen. H.A. Raitt.); Coronation 1911, engraved ´Brig-General. H.A. Raitt. C.B.´, minor edge bruising throughout, very fine, medals mounted as originally worn, with the related miniature awards including that for the K.C.I.E., both the latter and the C.B. are in gold and enamel, and with the following related items: - A General Officer´s mameluke sword by JB Johnstone, London, with flat curved blade etched with foliate decoration, crossed sword and baton, and G.V.R. cypher, regulation hilt with ivory scales to grip (crosspiece now lacking all gilt) and relic sword-knot, in its steel scabbard with cruciform bands to suspension rings - A Victorian sword with 34.5 in. slightly-curved fullered blade etched with foliate decoration, V.R. cypher, steel 1895 Infantry pattern guard and wire-bound fishkin grip, in its brown leather scabbard with steel locket and chape (frog-tab defective) - Infantry Officer´s sword by Henry Wilkinson (No. 52545) with good regulation blade etched with foliate decoration, Royal Arms and G.V.R. cypher, matching steel guard and fishkin grip (grip wire loose), in its steel scabbard (plating of guard and scabbard largely defective) - Queen Victoria South Africa 1900 Chocolate Tin, complete with original contents; (5) portrait photographs of the recipient including one that has been coloured and is framed behind glass with the following original documentation: - Commission appointing Herbert Aveling Raitt as Sub Lieutenant, Militia Forces, dated 13.3.1876 - Commission appointing Herbert Aveling Raitt as Second Lieutenant, Land Forces, dated 20.3.1878 - Bestowal Document for the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, K.C.I.E., dated 3.6.1919, in original envelope of issue, with the Statutes for the Order, dated May 1919 - Recipient´s Contract of Employment with the Egyptian Army, dated 5.3.1894, signed by Lord Kitchener - (2) letters addressed to recipient, a copy of his obituary from The Times, dated 9.11.1935, and a photograph of the Funeral Procession of King Edward VII (lot) Estimate £ 5,500-6,000 K.C.I.E. London Gazette 12.9.1919 Major-General Herbert Aveling Raitt, C.B. ´´For Meritorious Services in connection with the war in India.´´ C.B. London Gazette 27.9.1901 Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Herbert Aveling Raitt, South Staffordshire Regiment ´´In recognition of service during the operations in South Africa.´´ Major-General Herbert Aveling Raitt, K.C.I.E., C.B. (1858-1935), son of E.R. Raitt of Broughtons, Newnham, Gloucestershire; commissioned Second Lieutenant 80th Foot, 1878; served with the regiment in the South African War 1878-79, including in the operations against the Sekukuni, and the storming and capture of their stronghold; Adjutant to the 2nd Battalion February 1881 - June 1884; served in Sir Charles Warren´´s peaceful expedition into Bechuanaland, 1884-85, where he commanded a troop of Diamonds Field Horse; served with the Egyptian Army under Lord Kitchener for two years from 1894; advanced Major 1896; served in the Boer War, and was Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, from December 1900 (C.B.; M.I.D. London Gazette 10.9.1901); Colonel 1904; Commanded the South Midland Division, 1908-11; Major-General 4.9.1912; posted as Commanding Officer of the Mandalay Brigade, 1913-14; as General Officer Commanding Burma Division he commanded the troops during the Kachin Rising of January-February 1915; the punitive operations were mentioned in the despatch of General Sir Beauchamp Duff, G.C.B., C-in-C India, (London Gazette 4.7.1916) thus, ´´Unrest, which had been brewing for some time among the Kachins, came to a head in December, 1914, and January, 1915, when punitive operations were undertaken. The columns originally consisted of Burma Military Police, but as the disturbance appeared more general and likely to spread, regular troops were ordered up to Myitkyina.... In February, Major-General H. A. Raitt, C.B., Commanding Burma Division, proceeded to Myitkyina to direct operations. In the Kamaing and Mogaung Jurisdictions, and the adjoining unadministered territory, six columns operated during January and February.... Opposition encountered was in all cases successfully overcome, the rebel stockades captured, and the implicated villages destroyed. In the country north of Myitkyina two columns were employed during the latter end of January and throughout February, and these were equally successful in punishing the recalcitrant tribesmen. The country in which these operations were carried out is of a particularly dense and difficult nature. Major-General Raitt especially commends a night march carried out by a detachment of the 64th Pioneers over intricate country, followed by a successful attack on a rebel village´´; Major-General Raitt retired from his command in November 1918 (K.C.I.E.). It would appear that upon his death the statutes of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire were adhered to by the recipient´´s family, and the K.C.I.E. insignia was returned to the Central Chancery. For additional medals to the Raitt Family see Lots 7, 126, 130, 132, and 138.

Estimate
£5,500 to £6,000